VZCZCXRO6296
OO RUEHAST
DE RUEHSL #0434/01 1531539
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 021539Z JUN 06
FM AMEMBASSY BRATISLAVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9891
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0036
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BRATISLAVA 000434 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR EUR/NCE: MICHELLE LABONTE AND ERIC FICHTE, EUR/PPD, 
NEA/IR, AND PA/RRU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM KPAO PINR PREL SOCI IZ LO
SUBJECT: SMER RELEASES CAMPAIGN STATEMENT QUESTIONING SLOVAK 
PRESENCE IN IRAQ 
 
REF:  BRATISLAVA 414 (NOTAL) 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000434  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1.  (U)  Opposition party Smer-SD ("Direction - Social 
Democracy") released a statement on June 2 (translated 
below) blasting the war in Iraq, the deployment of Slovak 
troops there, and pledging that it will begin deliberations 
on the possible withdrawal of Slovak troops from Iraq if the 
party forms a new government after June 17 elections.  Smer 
currently leads in the most recent polls, with over 28.3 
percent.  The original statement is available in Slovak on 
the Smer website:  www.strana-smer.sk. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  While reftel reflects last week's conventional 
wisdom that Iraq would not figure in the national election 
campaign, local pundits and contacts in the GOS tell us they 
believe that events in the interim - particularly the 
release of polling numbers showing Smer's numbers beginning 
to decline while Prime Minister Dzurinda's SDKU continues a 
slow but steady rise - may have "spooked" Smer chairman 
Robert Fico into raising the issue.  In addition, Smer 
implies that the high profile given to Iraq as a result of 
the Haditha investigation likely influenced its decision to 
pursue this as an election issue. 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  The Embassy is releasing the following response 
to press inquiries: "The international community is at an 
important stage in rendering support to the Iraqi government 
and the Iraqi people.  The recently formed unity government 
in Iraq marks the progress from a brutal dictator to an 
elected government in which all Iraqis have a voice.  The 
international community is shifting its assistance from 
providing security to peaceful civilian support.  We are 
grateful for Slovakia's important contribution to this 
effort - assistance that is helping save Iraqi lives.  The 
Iraqis have expressed their appreciation to the 
international community and a desire for that assistance to 
continue."  Slovak government officials welcomed our 
statement.  Prime Minister Dzurinda may respond directly to 
Smer while on the campaign trail over the weekend, or his 
SDKU party will issue its own statement.  So far, Reuters 
and two local papers have requested a reaction from the 
Embassy.  EUR DAS Mark Pekala also delivered similar 
responses when questioned about Smer's statement during 
media interviews in Bratislava June 2. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  It is important to view this statement 
in context, as a campaign statement by a current opposition 
party that is trying to win, but has not yet won, and 
moreover has not faced the financial and political realities 
of what, exactly, withdrawal would mean for Slovakia.  Any 
future government in Slovakia will be a coalition 
government, and at the moment, the parties that have 
announced opposition to Slovakia's military presence in Iraq 
- Smer, the Christian Democratic Party (KDH), the Communist 
Party (KSS), and the Slovak National Party (SNS) - is a 
group unlikely to find themselves ruling together.  That 
said, the statement does not bode well for a Fico government 
to continue Slovakia's heretofore strong support for most 
U.S. foreign policies.  Fico had told the Ambassador 
expressly that he would not make Iraq a campaign issue, and 
would not move actively to withdraw from Iraq.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶5.  (U)  BEGIN UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF SMER STATEMENT: 
 
SMER-Social Democrats after entrance into a new government 
immediately will decide on the withdrawal of Slovak military 
units from Iraq. 
 
SMER-Social Democrats have always opposed the participation 
of Slovak soldiers in the war against Iraq.  The use of 
military force in Iraq is considered a violation of 
international law.  The military action in Iraq was brought 
about through lies, the propagation of which the Slovak 
government prime minister and Bush's real lackey M. Dzurinda 
and the other ministers of his government directly 
participated.  It is obvious that behind the use of power in 
Iraq were economic interests.  The war in Iraq has not 
solved anything.  The country is in civil war, and every day 
a lot of innocent people die, and Iraq became a dangerous 
seedbed of tension and the spreading of terrorism.  The 
situation in Iraq has nothing in common with democracy. 
 
SMER-Social Democrats cannot tolerate that Slovak soldiers 
would stay in Iraq under this situation.  It is obvious 
today that the PM maintains their participation in the 
 
BRATISLAVA 00000434  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
military action in Iraq only to gain the greater goodwill of 
the US president.  He placed Slovak soldiers in real danger 
of injury or death which has happened already in three 
instances just in the interest of getting a photograph with 
the American president, which SMER-SD considers to be 
depraved. 
 
SMER-SD with fear learns more and more information about the 
murder of civilian population of Iraq including women and 
children by American soldiers.  If this information is 
definitively confirmed, everyone who at the same time 
participated in military activities in Iraq on the side of 
the USA will take part of the responsibility for this huge 
violation of international law and military crimes against 
the civilian population. 
 
SMER-SD reminds the government of the SR, especially its PM 
Dzurinda, that there have already been several countries 
that have ended their participation in Iraq after they found 
out the truth about the false and manufactured reasons for 
using military force and the current situation in Iraq.  M. 
Dzurinda dragged Slovakia into a war against a country 
several thousand kilometers away that never threatened 
Slovakia and against the will of the majority of Slovaks. 
He did this only to look better to the president of the US, 
giving gave absolute priority to his own taste for power 
over the interests of the SR.  The last decision of the 
legislature of the USA on conditions for eliminating the 
visa requirement was absolutely ridiculous and proof that 
Dzurinda is counted among the lackeys in the eyes of the 
Bush administration.  If today the free Slovak soldier 
fighting for the interests of the US in Iraq requests a visa 
to the US, there is a high probability that he would not be 
allowed to set foot on the territory of the USA. 
 
From the point of view of the economic cost to the Slovak 
taxpayers, the participation of soldiers in Iraq costs 
several million SKK per year.  SMER-SD refuses that people 
pay for the war in Iraq, with whom we have nothing in 
common.  Similarly we would remind, that it wasn't only a 
visa slap in the face but also a refusal of Slovakia to 
participate in the programs of renewal in Iraq.  For these 
considerations, Slovak soldiers must immediately return 
home. 
 
END UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION OF SMER STATEMENT. 
 
VALLEE